Being a family caregiver is often a bigger job than you might expect. There’s a lot to be done, depending on the challenges your elderly family member faces. The good news is that in-home care services can help you and with all these tasks.
Assisting with Medical Concerns
Part of why you’re helping your elderly family member with caregiving concerns is likely to involve medical concerns. This includes scheduling appointments, getting your senior to appointments, and related tasks like picking up prescriptions. There’s a lot involved, even if your senior has mild health issues that she’s facing.
Helping with Mobility
Mobility may also become a bigger concern as your senior’s life and health change further. But she may need help walking and getting out of bed, for instance. Having help with these tasks ensures that she’s as safe as possible, especially when she’s in her own home.
Helping to Manage Nutritional Needs
Your senior’s nutritional intake is a huge part of keeping her as healthy as possible. If she’s not eating enough or she’s eating foods that don’t give her the nutritional balance she requires, she’s more likely to experience health issues. For this reason, reminding her to drink plenty of water and include nutritionally dense foods in her daily diet helps avoid those difficulties.
Handling Household Tasks
Over time, some simple household tasks your senior has managed on her own might become more difficult for her. These are things like managing her mail, keeping up with laundry, doing the dishes, and keeping her home tidy and clean. When she’s able to rest and conserve her energy, rather than worrying about doing these tasks herself, your senior’s quality of life improves greatly.
Assisting with Personal Care Tasks
There are certainly many personal care tasks that your senior might need help managing. Bathing, dealing with nail care, getting dressed, and more are all tasks that fall under personal care. As your elderly family member’s abilities and needs change, she may need much more help with these tasks. It can feel awkward for both of you to help with such personal tasks, but it’s all about keeping your senior safe, comfortable, and healthy.
Offering Companionship
Throughout everything that you and your senior experience together, you’re right there with her, offering the companionship she needs to have a full life. That’s an important part of just being there with her, no matter what else you do for and with her on a regular basis. She may also need help with transportation to activities and events where she spends time with other friends and family members.
As much as you might want to, you can’t do it all for your senior all of the time. Sometimes, help from home care providers may be necessary. In-home care professionals are experienced in helping seniors deal with all these challenges and more.